


Strange Sky Rock

by AHeartForStories



Series: AHeartForStories' Febuwhump 2021 [4]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: FebuWhump2021, Febuwhump, Gen, Hand injury, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III Whump, Hiccup Whump, Hurt Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Illnesses, Impaled, Infection, Sick Character, extraterrestrial, meteorite, stabbed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 13:02:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29207811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHeartForStories/pseuds/AHeartForStories
Summary: Written for Febuwhump Day 4. Set during RttE. While on patrol, Hiccup and Toothless see something shooting through the sky. Curious, they decide to check it out.
Relationships: Astrid & Fishlegs & Hiccup & Ruffnut & Snotlout & Tuffnut, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Stoick the Vast, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless
Series: AHeartForStories' Febuwhump 2021 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137413
Comments: 11
Kudos: 36
Collections: febuwhump 2021





	Strange Sky Rock

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Febuwhump prompt: "Impaled"
> 
> I had a space/extraterrestrial-related one-shot for Whumptober 2020, so this is the one for Febuwhump 2021!
> 
> Constructive criticism is appreciated.  
> Enjoy!

While patrolling the Edge, what the Dragon Riders look out for are visitors, traders, Hunter ships, any other enemies who might be coming to their dragon base with the intention to do them harm.

Sometimes friendlies come into these waters and their airspace, but the patrols, they are mostly to spot hostiles and intercept them before they can reach their base.

What Hiccup and Toothless see on their last patrol for that night, that didn't quite seem like an enemy at the time. They aren't sure what to make of it at first.

It comes shooting across the sky, looking like a shooting star except it has escaped the stars and is much, much closer. There is a greenish-yellowish glow to it with a long tail. It pulsates beautifully in the dark and both human and dragon are mesmerized by the sight.

What is that thing? A meteor?

"Toothless!" Hiccup points to it as it passes overhead with incredible speed, but the dragon has caught it, too. He rumbles curiously.

The glow and its tail disappear and a deafening bang follows quickly. There's a shockwave and it even throws them out of balance.

"Woah!" Hiccup exclaims as they both need to recover quickly before they crash. Birds flee the area and spooked dragons follow.

They probably have to check it out and Toothless grumbles as this realization hits him. He can already hear Hiccup giving the order. he's so curious, he probably wants to see it.

"Come on, Bud," And there it is. "Let's go check it out!"

The dragon gives his protest.

"Oh, stop it, you! You know we need to go see this thing! And before you protest, Mister, it's not just because I want to see it! We have to check it out and make sure that meteorite hasn't done any damage to the island." Hiccup points out to him and Toothless supposes he's right. He still doesn't want to check it out, though.

But despite this, Hiccup makes them veer to the left and head towards the crash site. They can see smoke billowing through the treetops. With any luck, this doesn't mean that there's a forest fire brewing beneath it.

They arrive and see a big crater where the meteorite now rests, still smoldering. Several rows of trees have been blown over by the shockwave, most of them completely uprooted, and there are fires here and there.

They don't appear too concerning, they are small and the wind doesn't appear to be carrying them over. They're still going to be put out, of course.

Toothless' rumble is low and long, it sounds closer to a growl, as he's distrustful of the site and the strange sky rock. He doesn't quite want to land.

"Yeah, I know, Bud." Hiccup tells him, sounding sympathetic and probably feeling sympathetic to his dragon's feelings. He understands why Toothless doesn't want to set down, but there is the creeping excitement of having found something new and he wants to see it up close and personal.

Besides, the closer they get, there's this sound that he hears and he wants to know where it's coming from.

So they still land, much to Toothless' dismay, and Hiccup is quick to dismount and approach it.

The dragon doesn't dare come too close and so they landed quite a bit away from it. From this distance, they can see that not a lot remains of the meteorite, but it still has quite a considerable size.

Toothless watches in discomfort as Hiccup walks closer to it.

This is so wrong. The dragon can feel that something isn't quite right with that thing. He can feel it, something... something radiating off it. It's not like a furnace, per se, because it's not a heat he's ever felt before. But it does feel like there's a heat.

It's just bad. His most basic instincts are telling him that this thing is bad and he wonders why Hiccup's aren't telling him the same thing. Humans have these instincts as well and he knows that they have them. So why isn't Hiccup listening to his?

As Hiccup walks closer, Toothless paces from one side to another at a distance he feels is safe.

His rumbling is still low and constant, a clear sign of great distress that Hiccup, of all people, _should_ be able to tell. It's not the first time Hiccup hasn't listened to Toothless, but when he reacts this badly to something, he usually makes an exception.

He yowls loudly at him.

"I won't be long, Bud! And I'll be careful, don't worry!" Oh yeah, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third is going to be careful.

Toothless protests at this, but once again, his Rider doesn't listen.

What is wrong with this human?!

Hiccup, he can't tear his eyes away from the sky rock. It looks so smooth and is black in color. As he comes closer, the low-level buzzing he's been hearing in his ears grows louder and louder until he can't even hear his dragon over it. It's like there's a hive of bees taking up space inside his head.

It makes him want to check it out even more.

As Hiccup cautiously slides down into the crater, Toothless roars at him this time, stomping a foreleg down. He's much too close to it now.

"Bud, it's okay! I'm keeping my distance and I'm not touching it!" Hiccup assures him, could barely hear him over the buzzing noise, but do his assurances matter? His 'distance' isn't nearly as far enough as Toothless wants it to be.

Hiccup turns back towards the rock, the sound so, so loud. And for some reason, it doesn't freak him out.

This is something new, something unexplainable. So of course, it demands his attention.

Okay, so he does end up touching it, the rock is just too inviting, too alluring. And for as smart as he is, there isn't a part of his brain that stores his capacity for common sense, apparently. The meteorite will soon prove that once more to Hiccup.

Or maybe that neverending noise has something to do with it.

His hand coming to lay on the smooth surface, he can feel lightning tingling through his hands and his fingers, trailing its way up his arm.

It's not harmful and it doesn't feel painful, not unlike that time he got struck by actual lightning proving Toothless' innocence that one time. It's not exactly pleasant, but Hiccup can't seem to pull away from it.

Upon seeing this action, the dragon roars again, louder this time. But even though it's loud enough to surely alarm some dragons in the far distance, Hiccup doesn't respond. Did he even hear him?

Hiccup is entirely lost to him, his full attention on the meteorite.

It feels almost warm to the touch. And while one would think that a rock previously engulfed by fire should be hot, that's not the kind of heat that he feels.

It's not something he feels physically, not something he can feel like with a campfire or the hot metal he works with on the daily. And yet, it's still undeniably there. It's comfortably warm.

But then it catches him completely off guard and a sudden cry leaves him as he jumps back, startling Toothless.

What comes shooting out of the rock's surface looks like little spikes and they impale his hand from his palm up. It's such a shock that it pulls him out of his trance-like mindset and he quickly removes his hand, stepping away from the strange object.

Toothless cries out in fright. Yes, his human is absolutely an idiot, but when he gets himself hurt, he worries. It's enough that he dares to go down into the crater himself, sliding down into the dirt while his Rider stumbles to him.

The dragon comes between Hiccup and the meteorite, using his head to push him away from it and put some distance between the two. Only once he's more comfortable does Toothless take a look at Hiccup as he cradles his left hand to his chest.

He noses Hiccup's hand, wanting to take a look. He can already see that it's bleeding pretty badly.

Hiccup shows it to him, still needing to take a look at it himself.

"Oh Gods," He mutters.

In his palm, there are a total of three puncture marks, nearly perfectly aligned with one another. The biggest one in the middle is almost all the way through and the blood is everywhere.

Toothless moans worryingly and Hiccup cradles his trembling hand to his chest again.

"Come on, Bud." He says, sounding almost disappointed instead of alarmed as they climb out of the crater.

Once they're out, Toothless quickly urges Hiccup to get in the saddle so they can fly back to the Dragon Base as fast as they can to get that stitched up and the bleeding stopped.

Hiccup listens to him this time, climbing onto his back. One hand less doesn't make it all that much harder on him.

When they're up in the sky, he rummages in a saddlebag to pull out a bandage. Being able to use only one hand to dress the other is a little bit more difficult, but Hiccup manages. It's better to do a shoddy job and stop the bleeding than not dress this injury at all and bleed out somewhere along the way home.

He doesn't know if it's that severe, but it is bad and concerning enough that he believes Fishlegs might need to stitch it up.

Hiccup glances back at the meteorite, confused.

That buzzing sound that drew him closer and closer, it was gone the second those objects impaled him. And besides the usual stabbing sensation, there is also a strange burning feeling coursing up through his arm. It feels almost like the venom of a dragon.

Just what was that thing?

* * *

"And you decided the first thing you needed to do when you saw it was to touch it?" Astrid asks, exasperated with Hiccup's decision about as much as Toothless was.

"Uh, yes?" Hiccup replies sheepishly. There isn't really anything else he can answer to that.

"You're unbelievable. She tells him, but what else is new?

Hiccup smiles her way before he hisses and almost draws his hand back from Fishlegs.

"Oh, sorry!" He swiftly apologizes.

"No, it's fine, Fishlegs." Hiccup tells him and gazes back down at the three puncture marks, two of which have already been closed up by their resident healer.

It still burns and it's even gotten worse during the flight back. In Fishlegs' hand, Hiccup's trembles terribly. And now that it's been cleaned, the bleeding now significantly less with the closing of his injuries, the area surrounding the wounds is red and swollen.

Fishlegs is very concerned by this, but mostly because of the depth of the middle mark in his hand. He hopes these aren't the signs of an infection.

"So now that that's out of the way, where was it?" Snotlout asks excitedly, because of course, he's curious and wants to go see this thing for himself. It makes Astrid sigh.

"Purely for scientific reasons, of course!" Tuffnut comes to stand with Snotlout, who nods agreeingly.

"It's by the cliffs on the east side of the island, you can easily see it if you fly overhead." Hiccup tells them without batting an eye.

"And we want them to know that... why?" Astrid asks, putting a fist on a cocked hip.

"Yeah, Hiccup, I don't think it's safe for any of us if it really did what you said it did," Fishlegs says uncertainly, sharing Astrid's concerns.

He told them about how he touched the meteorite, how there was that tingling sensation before those spikes suddenly jutted out of its smooth surface. That doesn't sound like normal rock behavior to them.

But Hiccup simply shrugs, apparently having no answer for why Snotlout and the twins, the three who would absolutely go touch it as well, would have need of this information.

He hasn't told them about the sound, though. He's not sure how he's supposed to explain that one. A buzzing noise that lured him into touching something? He's not sure even Toothless heard it, though he was there. He doesn't know if his dragon will even believe him if he were to tell.

"All done!" Fishlegs happily finishes up with a simple, but effective, dressing.

"Thank you, Fishlegs." Hiccup is grateful for his care. He attempts to flex his hand, but finds it quite stiff because of the swelling.

Oh, it better be getting infected. If it is, they might actually need to fly to Berk to see Gothi, where Hiccup will be disappointing both her and his father.

But that is a concern for later, Hiccup rubs in his eyes.

"I think I'll be going to bed." Hearing that from him comes as a bit of a surprise to the Riders and Toothless as well as Hiccup.

"Really? It's not even that late yet." Ruffnut tells him as he doesn't exactly go to bed early.

"I know, I just feel really tired all of a sudden, might be all the excitement." He assumes, his eyelids feeling heavier as he speaks. He fights the urge to yawn, a fist to his mouth.

Wow, he really needs to get to bed.

"I'll see you all tomorrow morning, okay?" Getting up from his chair, he tells his Riders before he heads off towards the entrance of the clubhouse.

"You coming, Bud?" Toothless responds with a croon and follows his human partner out.

On the way, Hiccup begins to stumble and Toothless gives a quizzical moan, drawing everybody's attention back to him.

"Hiccup?" Astrid calls his name, noticing his sudden loss of balance.

He's holding his head with his uninjured hand. He doesn't know whether to keep it there or hold his stomach instead as he's starting to feel sick.

"Um, on-on second thought? I think I'm actually about to fall over right now." Warning his friends, Hiccup struggles to stay on his feet as he turns to face them again.

Hearing his warning, the Riders rush forwards to catch him in time. Toothless is ready as well, but it'll be difficult to help on all fours.

Eyes rolling back and stumbling, Hiccup blacks out and falls to the floor.

It's Astrid who keeps him from hitting the ground, grabbing his arms and pulling him to her to then wrap her arms around him in one swift motion. They end up on their knees and his head didn't hit the ground.

"Oh, thank the Gods." Someone mutters and they all feel a sense of relief. The last thing Hiccup probably needs is a concussion on top of the trouble he already has.

"So, huh, what just happened?" Tuffnut asks, wondering where the sudden need to pass out comes from. Hiccup was fine quite literally a minute ago.

Fishlegs kneels down next to Hiccup and Astrid and takes his hand to undo the bandages he'd only just wrapped around it. When he does and they take another look at his hand, they all gasp at how much it has suddenly changed.

In that minute or so, the redness and swelling have visibly worsened.

"Astrid, I think we need to see Gothi," Fishlegs informs her and she can't help but agree.

Has an infection already set in? It's only been an hour at most since he touched that thing!

They have to let Gothi look at this and fast. What they are dealing with is strange and foreign, much like the rock it came from. Whatever Hiccup's come in contact with, it is most definitely something out of this world.

* * *

"Hiccup? Son?" When Hiccup rouses, it's to his father's voice and Toothless purring right next to him. A large hand runs through his hair and a dry, scaly nose brushes up against his cheek.

Groaning and swallowing with a dry throat, Hiccup opens his eyes and feels awful for it. There's quite a bit of a headache throbbing in his skull and he feels sick. Warm, too, and there appears to be a single layer of blankets on him.

"Dad?" He croaks out, catching sight of his father on his right and Toothless on his left. They're both happy to see him awake.

"Hello son, how're you feeling?" Stoick asks with a soft voice.

"Hm-mh, absolutely awful." Hiccup confesses with a hum. "Lik Snotlout after that muttonfest last year."

"You look awful." His father chuckles shortly and Toothless agrees with a noise. The dragon bumps his nose against Hiccup's temple and gets him to smile momentarily.

"What happened to me? I remember being on patrol with Toothless and seeing something in the sky. What am I doing in bed and why are you here?" He only remembers seeing that glow and thinking a meteorite must've hit the Edge.

"'Here' is Berk, son. You've been unconscious for days." Puzzled and shocked, Hiccup stares at his father upon hearing his answer. For days? What for?! No wonder he feels so weak.

"You've been terribly ill. It's... It's good to see you awake." Stoick says and smiles warmly. He's been fretting over Hiccup's health ever since he returned to Berk and Gothi has taken a look at him, barely even leaving the house, though, he still has his village to look after.

"How did I get sick?" Hiccup asks and his father takes his bandaged hand to show it to him.

He now stares at it, clueless as to why those bandages are there. Did he hurt his hand somehow?

"Where did that come from?" He asks and tries to flex the limb only to find it too stiff to make a full fist. His hand is swollen and he can see that the redness has spread beyond the confines of the dressing. It doesn't seem to hurt. Besides the pressure from the swelling, it is strangely numb. That he can still move his fingers seems to be a good sign, so he hopes.

"What also do you remember, son?"

"Besides being on that patrol and finding something? Nothing. I think it was a meteorite? Do you know if I checked it out?" Hiccup looks to his father for an answer. If it really did crash on the Edge, he would want to see it and make sure no damage has been done to their second home. If he has, the Riders might've told him.

Toothless rumbles uncertainly, but Hiccup isn't quite sure what to make of it. Did they not check it out? Or did they check it out and something happened?

"yes, you did, you did." Stoick clarifies as his son's friends have told him all about it. "The Riders told me you found it and touched it. Do you remember putting your hand on it?"

Previously shocked to find his left hand injured, Hiccup is now surprised he went as far as to touch it. Lifting his hand again, he looks at it.

"No, I don't." He doesn't remember any of it, it doesn't even sound _familiar_ to him.

"Is that how I hurt my hand?" He asks and lays it down again.

It concerns Stoick that his son can't remember, that it doesn't even appear to ring a single bell with him. There isn't much of a reaction coming from him either, he must be too tired.

Hiccup sighs deeply, blinking slowly.

"Why would I just touch a rock that came falling out of the sky? Taking a look is one thing, but touch it? Pff, I'm so sorry, Bud, you must think I'm such an idiot." He apologizes to his dragon, raising his right hand to pet his nose.

Toothless pushes his nose into his hand and purrs, though he's troubled by what he hears Hiccup say.

The dragon knows his Bud both inside and out, his choice of words aren't an accident. If there was any chance he would've been reckless enough to do something like touch a foreign object that came falling from the sky while engulfed in fire, Hiccup would've admitted to that. He is often self-aware enough to realize that.

That he thinks it strange he would do such a thing worries Toothless. He believes Hiccup and thus wonders what lured him into what was essentially a trap.

Lowering his hand, Hiccup closes his eyes.

"Are you tired, son?" Stoick asks, not quite as observant as Toothless is.

Hiccup hums confirmingly. He hasn't been awake for very long, but that isn't to be expected after having been knocked out for days.

"Can you tell me what's happening to me before I fall back asleep?" He looks to his father for an answer as it would be nice to know what Gothi said.

"The rock hurt you in some way and you fell ill quickly after. Gothi has no idea what it is, but your body is fighting it off well. It'll take a while, but you've woken up and she told us when you were brought home that that would be a good thing." Stoick explains, briefly recounting what the Riders and Berk's healer have told him.

Hiccup closes his eyes again. So not even Gothi knows what's currently running its course through him? It's not a comforting thought.

"Before you fall back asleep, would you like something to drink? Something to eat?" Stoick asks and Hiccup looks at him, feeling his stomach growl on cue.

They've kept him alive by what little bits of food and water they could get into him. As a result, he's lost some weight and he is, understandably, ravenous and parched.

"Yeah, that'd be nice." Hiccup replies and watches his father get up to leave his room.

Hiccup feels weak, which is probably to be expected after he's been sick and out for days, but he manages to turn onto his side and face Toothless.

He flexes his hand again, the limb numb and stiff, but still functional and he takes comfort in that.

If this infection, or he guesses that's what he has going on underneath those dressings, was going to cost him his hand, he would've lost it already. It's going to heal.

Gazing at his Bud next, Toothless lays his head closer to him, Hiccup wonders what happened when they found that meteorite and what could've possessed him to just touch it like that.

"Hey Toothless, if we found that thing during a patrol, then that means you were there, right?" Toothless snorts in confirmation.

"Did you see anything strange?" Toothless rumbles his worry and Hiccup figures that this must mean a "yes". He did see something strange, Hiccup's behavior to him was strange.

It isn't just his claim from minutes earlier, it's also that he completely ignored his Night Fury as he expressed his great discomfort. But how is he to tell him any of that?

Hiccup really wishes he and Toothless could just talk to each other, it would certainly make figuring this out easier.

Well, maybe they can do it later, when he's a little stronger and can stay awake for longer. Right now, Hiccup just wants some water, some food, and some more sleep.

Toothless purrs and nuzzles him again, expressing how glad he is to see him awake. Hiccup returns the affectionate gesture and wraps an arm around his Bud's head.

His dad should be back soon. Until then, he would like to just cuddle with his Bud and rest.


End file.
